The Museum of Western Film History

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
953645691
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lone Pine, CA, USA
Phone
7608769909
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Foundations

Reported finances

Revenue
$697,534
Expenses
$442,357
Assets
$2,390,316
Liabilities
$162,224

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAQUELINE HICKMAN (President & CEO)

People named in this filing

  • SHEYANNE QUILTER (Secretary)
  • MONICA VALENZUELA (Director)
  • BRENDA LACEY (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of the museum of western film history is to collect, preserve, protect, archive and exhibit a variety of original materials containing information of permanent historical value relating to the history and heritage of the americanwestern film for the preservation, education, and enrichment of the public. Themuseum actively pursues collections of personal papers, business and organizationalrecords, as well as memorbilia that reflect and document aspects of western film history and popular culture for successive generations to discover.

What it reported doing in 2025

To educate the general public on the history and importance of the local southern inyo area in the settling of the west by providing objects, pictures, and memorabilia pertaining to the local history with a focus on the film history of the area.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 50.9%; rating input score 51
  • Program expense ratio: 70.9%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $71.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 36.6%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.4; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 50.9% of revenue deployed · 70.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $314K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 51/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.